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Majority Savers: Let's Support Christina Bohannan for Iowa-1! [1]

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Date: 2022-08-28

Candidate Background

I love it when candidates put out introductory videos. Those videos often give the background of the candidate and explain what’s important to them. Here is Christina Bohannan telling more about herself.

Here are some other facts about her that she only briefly touched upon in the video.

Her bachelor’s degree is in environmental engineering and her Juris Doctor is in law. She earned both at the University of Florida before moving to the state of Iowa to become a law professor.

In order to make it to the Iowa House, she had to beat an incumbent in the primary. She was able to do so by a large 32 point margin. She went uncontested in the general election, because Iowa City is staunchly Democratic. This is the sum of her political experience as of now.

Signature Issues

This section was tough to write, mainly because she has no issues page on her campaign site and her Twitter feed is more about the events she is attending. Through her campaign launch video and her website, I was able to piece together these priorities.

Education: As a law professor, she is likely seeing students that are not ready for college even though they are attending school. She would push for more investment in K-12 education and prioritize vocational training for 21st century manufacturing jobs.

Climate Change and Clean Energy: Iowa is a leader in generating wind power, and Bohannan would help make wind power more attractive an option for farmers in her district if elected. With derechos, heat, and droughts becoming more common, she knows fighting climate change is important.

Health Care and Abortion: She doesn’t go into specifics about her health care ideas other than making sure that rural Americans can have decent health care as well. She is pro-choice, and would likely codify Roe into law. This is the only position I could find on her Twitter feed at this time.

Elections History

Recent Elections —

2020 President: TFG (R-inc) 50.4%, Joe Biden (D) 47.5%

2020 House: Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) 49.912%, Rita Hart (D) 49.910% (SIX VOTE MARGIN)

2022 Race Rating: Likely Republican

2022 PVI: R+3

This district was called the 2nd district from 2003-2023, and it was once held by liberal Republican Rep. Jim Leach for over 30 years. Before 2007, Leach was in complete control of the district, even though he increasingly voted against the GQP agenda as they became more and more radical. Gore and Kerry both won this district by a substantial margin even as Leach continued to win.

The 2006 blue wave was a bridge too far for Leach, as he was upset by the unremarkable Rep. Dave Loebsack. The new incumbent had nothing to worry about in 2008, mainly because Obama carried this district by a 60-38% margin. 2010 was a different story, as future Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks held Loebsack to a 50-45% result amidst the red wave that year.

Obama still carried the district in 2012, but by a lesser 56-43% win. 2014 proved to be another tough race for Loebsack, as Miller-Meeks held him to a 52-47 result. Then, the bottom fell out in the district when TFG started running for office. He won the district twice, 49-44 against Clinton and by the margin above against Biden. That meant that Loebsack could never rest easy in the seat again.

Loebsack retired in 2020, and the race to succeed him was the closest one in a very long time. Don’t tell me voting doesn’t matter when SIX VOTES separated the candidates in that race. Instead of becoming a perennial candidate, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks now resides in Congress. She will be tough to dislodge, but hopefully Christina Bohannan is the person to do it.

The University of Iowa is critical to our chances of winning this district,

Political Tour of the District

IA01 is the green district located in southeastern Iowa.

The 1st and 2nd districts flipped spots in the 2020 redistricting round. The 1st district now covers southeastern Iowa, and that area (except for a few places) has galloped to the right in the era of TFG. This will be a tough district to win back unless Bohannan does very well in certain areas.

Here’s where this race will be won in the 1st district.

Johnson County: This is the Democratic anchor of the district, and where the University of Iowa is found. Bohannan will need a supercharged student vote and professor vote to even entertain the thought of winning this district. Biden got 71% in the district, but she will need to do better.

This is the Democratic anchor of the district, and where the University of Iowa is found. Bohannan will need a supercharged student vote and professor vote to even entertain the thought of winning this district. Biden got 71% in the district, but she will need to do better. Quad Cities: Two of the cities (Davenport and Bettendorf) are found in Iowa, and they have migrated to the right recently. Biden took about 51% of the vote in this county, and Bohannan will have to do better than that to have a chance of winning the district.

Two of the cities (Davenport and Bettendorf) are found in Iowa, and they have migrated to the right recently. Biden took about 51% of the vote in this county, and Bohannan will have to do better than that to have a chance of winning the district. Jefferson and Muscatine Counties: Both of these counties went for TFG by a small amount, and Bohannan will have to flip both of them to have a shot at winning the district. These are smaller counties, but Bohannan has to make up the deficit somewhere.

Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.

Clinton and Des Moines Counties: These two counties were comfortably carried by TFG, and they are likely to be carried by Miller-Meeks as well. Bohannan needs to get as close to 50-50 as possible in these counties, or she will have a very rough night in the election returns.

These two counties were comfortably carried by TFG, and they are likely to be carried by Miller-Meeks as well. Bohannan needs to get as close to 50-50 as possible in these counties, or she will have a very rough night in the election returns. Farm Country: The rest of the district is more rural, and it went sharply to the right during TFG’s two elections. Bohannan does have to win some voters back from these areas to win, but it is likely she will be blown out in these counties. The margins are critical, and every vote helps!

Activism — Help How You Can!

This has the potential to be an expensive race, as both candidates are raising substantial sums. Christina Bohannan raised a respectable $674k in Quarter 2, which will get her somewhere in the cheaper Iowa markets. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks still raised more, to the tune of $812k. It is unlikely dark money will be at play here unless the political environment improves for us.

With uncontested primary elections, both candidates are sitting on respectable cash piles. Bohannan has $1.27 MILLION to spend on this race as of the end of June, while Miller-Meeks has $2.66 MILLION to counter any Democratic spending. As I stated, this could turn into an expensive race, which is why Bohannan could use a small donation from you today!

DONATE TO CHRISTINA BOHANNAN HERE

The University of Iowa is key to the success of Bohannan, and in order to reach out to these college students, volunteers are needed. Some important tasks include registering people to vote, canvassing, text/phone banking, and so many more. In order to volunteer for this campaign, sign up HERE. Your support means Bohannan is one step closer to taking back this district from the GQP.

In terms of social media reach, Bohannan could use a little help. She has 3.7k followers on Twitter, which is okay for a challenger but not stellar. She could use more people to get out her message on social media.

x Some of my awesome staffers came along to the #IowaStateFair. Hoping for a fair food report later! pic.twitter.com/xQizEghWyX — Christina Bohannan (@BohannanIowa) August 17, 2022

She is also active on Facebook at BohannanforIowa and Instagram at ChristinaForCongress. Much the same content is found there as is found on Twitter, so I don’t feel the need to explore those social media platforms.

Make no mistake — this is a longshot race at this point. Christina Bohannan is a credible candidate, but winning a district that TFG won twice is no easy task. Hopefully with the Dobbs decision, a sleeping giant in the University of Iowa will awaken and lead Bohannan to victory. I will continue to write about races such as this one, no matter the odds. Thanks for reading!

How to find all Majority Savers’ diaries:

To find all past and future diaries of the Majority Savers group, go to their Diaries List. (We suggest that you Bookmark that page.) The home page of the Majority Savers group is here.

Christina Bohannan for Iowa-1

Donate | Volunteer | Campaign | FaceBook | Twitter | Instagram

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